The verdict is in, and Canada wins.
The Fossil of the Day Awards reached a climax today when Canada was awarded the Fossil of the Year award in Copenhagen.
While world leaders are still meeting in the final hours of negotiations, it is highly unlikely that a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty will emerge from COP15. So today, civil society groups took time to name and shame the biggest obstacle to climate action for 2009.
Canada was chosen to receive the "Colossal Fossil" award based on votes by more than 500 members of the Climate Action Network, a global coalition of some 500 non-governmental organizations.
Ben Wikler of Avaaz.org announced the winner: "Fossil of the Year goes to CANADA, for bringing a totally unacceptable position into Copenhagen and refusing to strengthen it one bit. Canada's 2020 target is among the worst in the industrialized world, and leaked cabinet documents revealed that the governments is contemplating a cap-and-trade plan so weak that it would put even that target out of reach.”
"Canada's performance here in Copenhagen builds on two years of delay, obstruction and total inaction. This government thinks there's a choice between environment and economy, and for them, tar sands beats climate every time. Canada's emissions are headed nowhere but up. For all this and more, we name Canada the Colossal Fossil," Wikler said.
Illustration by Franke James (frankejames.com)
After the awards ceremony, the huge crowd braved the chilly Danish winter to assemble outside for the Climate Verdict photo shoot, donning ‘Climate NOT Saved’ bibs and holding oversized faces of the world leaders whose countries have received Fossil of the Day awards throughout the year.
Photos by Robert vanWaarden
Comments
18 December 09 | Kenj
Ashamed of Representation
After the showing of Stephen Harper at the Copenagen conference I am in a way ashamed to be a Canadian. I am disturbed by our national representations lack of effort to even convincingly participate in the summit. Harper and his governments support of the climate crime being commited in the Canadian north in the form of the Oil Sands is appauling. The stupididy and short citedness of Canada's Prime Minister is laughable, accept that what is at stake is so extreme it's more likely I will cry. Canada's reputation as an untouched wilderness is ruined because of immediate greed and lack of vision on the part of our leadership. The potential for green technology and jobs in Canada is vast but Harper appears to be to lazy to do his job. He appears to be content to reliquish his role as a leader, leading the country and the international community to a future. Instead he has fallen in line with climate deniers suicide march towards a tipping point where we loose the fragile abiblity to influence climate change in the direction that would accomidate the survival of our sepecies! Thank you for the drive to continue to advocate for the truth and survival while you and your government bask in fleeting greed and climate clime Prime Minister Harper.
21 December 09 | Kathleen Bishop
Fantastic work for the planet, thanks
As a citizen of this planet and a person of faith I am proud to see that people are willing to stand up for what is right for the world's survival and not just what's right for their pocket books. If only our world leaders would do the same.
I invite anyone who lives in the US to work toward changing our constitution and make term limits permanent in the congress and senate and for the president. We need people to be citizen politicians who come to Washington DC to serve their country and then go home to serve their neighbors.
One 4 year term for everyone...period end of story! That would eliminate the lobby's, the business interests, the bribery, and the egos from our political system. And only those who truly wanted to "help" this country would even run for office.
TERM LIMITS NOW!